The invention relates to a tracked ATV. The term All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) designates in the following text vehicles for off-road use which have a relatively small footprint and are intended for use by a driver alone or for a driver and one passenger.
A general distinction is to be made between wheeled and tracked ATVs: A wheeled ATV usually has four wheels, a straddle-type seat for a driver and a handlebar for the steering of the front wheels. Its driver can ride it actively, adapting his position on the seat and hence the balance of the vehicle to a particular driving situation. This allows high driving speeds in off-road conditions. However, wheel drives are not sufficient for universal off-road use, since they lack grip or tend to sink on soft grounds or in deep snow for example.
For use on soft grounds, a tracked ATV is perfect since its ground force is distributed over the ground engaging portion of the tracks and therefore greatly reduced. A track conversion kit for a wheeled ATV is described in the Canadian patent application CA-2,374,657, but the best ground engagement and ground force distribution is offered by full-track vehicles.
The Canadian patent application CA-2,141,777 describes such a full-track ATV. It has a pair of parallel, ground engaging tracks and a joystick allows the driver to control the differential speed between the two tracks for steering the vehicle. A driver seat of the type known from cars gives the driver a stable position with respect to the joystick which is arranged in front of him. However, with this type of steering control (the joystick) and the driving posture given due to the type and position of the seat, it is impossible for the driver to move spontaneously in order to improve the balance of the vehicle with respect to a particular driving situation.